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HDTV Listings for October 21, 2006
What we're watching: The World Series is on, and most other regularly scheduled network programming is taking the night off as a result. While Fox features the Tigers vs. Cardinals, ABC is airing Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets while CBS has The Bourne Identity. Georgia Tech vs. Clemson should be a good matchup on ESPN-HD, or you can just chill out and catch Sunrise Earth: Total Eclipse on Discovery HD Theater.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Deal of the Day: MLB 06: The Show $20 at Bestbuy.com
If baseball on the go is your bag, then I have pretty darn good deal for you. Bestbuy.com is offering MLB 06: The Show for only $20.Now I haven't played the game before, so I can't personally vouch for it, but it currently holds an 83 at Metacritic. And for comparison's sake, Gamestop sells the game new for $30 and used for $25; however, it is currently backordered.See also:The PS2 version for $20[Via Cheapassgamer - Registration required]
Movies move into the fantasy gaming realm
Fantasy baseball and football are entirely different kinds of MMORPGs. Gamers play the role of manager, logging in constantly in an effort to juggle your lineup, put the right players in, take the wrong ones out, and compete against other people trying to do the same thing. If you've ever played, you know how fanatical people can get; trades at 3 o'clock a.m., backstabbing, ruthlessness, trickery -- it's like World of Warcraft with balls.Now two people are bringing those same gameplay elements to a world where they already exist, Hollywood.Matthew Berry, head of the fantasy sports site TalentedMrRoto and Brenda Spoonemore, former interactive chief for NBA entertainment, are creating a fantasy-style online game called Fantasy Moguls, which will let you run your own "studio." You can trade movies and stars, track your winning score by your box office tally and hopefully undermine your foes. Sign up on the site now, the game begins on October 27th.Dibs on Uwe Boll.
Wii Sports and the games within
We've been speculating on exactly how many different games will be included in the Wii Sports title for awhile now and even wondered if the game would be bundled with the system, so it's nice to finally be able to report a concrete number. Coming in with 5 total sports, Wii Sports will include Nintendo's take on golf, baseball, tennis, bowling, and boxing (sans Mario and the crew). The addition of both bowling and boxing is very welcomed by the Wii Fanboy staff, in case you wanted to know (you didn't).So previous rumors of a compilation of over 30 games is out and the airplane game previously rumored to be included is out, as well? Bowling is pretty much a gimme in terms of thinking how one would play the title using the Wiimote, but what about Wii Sports Boxing? Well, we had an idea about how one would play a boxing title on the Wii and are fairly sure our previous theories on the matter will prove true, causing many to cringe at the extra $40 US they'd have to drop just to be able to punch with both hands. Personally, we can't wait to get home on November 19th, open our Wii box and mess around with the Mii channel, maybe even going so far as to make an avatar to throw down in Wii Sports. One thing is certain: we will be the greatest bowler of them all.
Sprint announces on-phone MLB audio
Just in time for the playoff race to heat up, Sprint's inked a deal with Major League Baseball to provide every -- yes, every -- major league game via streaming audio to Vision and Power Vision-enabled handsets. What's more, each game will be available via both team's flagship stations in addition to a Spanish feed. Called "Gameday Audio," the service will run ya $5.99 and should be available this month. Now just throw in a little A2DP, maybe some Sirius for entertainment during the seventh-inning stretch, and you've got yourself a pretty wicked setup for baseball on the move.[Via PhysOrg.com]
Could Wii Sports be bundled with the system? [Update]
We receive lots of emails from readers. Some full of praise for the impressive vocabulary skills and intricate imagery provided by our crack team of Ludwig bloggers. Other emails ask us if we would like to receive lucrative reimbursement by aiding rich African Presidents in liberating their funds from the clutches of usurpers only by submitting our bank information. However, sometimes we receive wonderful emails that produce deep thought within our staff. One such email arrived recently where the sender proposed that Nintendo could very well include Wii Sports with the console at retail.This started the hamster to run on the steel wheel in my head, which is an analogy for my brain. Remember folks, intricate imagery. I started to think back to what Nintendo's launches had been like in the past. The NES launched with Super Mario Bros. The SNES launched with Super Mario World. The N64 failed to launch with a game, as well as the GameCube, and if you're a superstitious person, you might think that the lacking launch of the N64 was the start of the downhill trend of hardware launching without proper software to back it up.
Minor league baseball offering free Father's Day TiVos
Just because Father's Day is half over and you still haven't gone out and picked up a present for dear old dad, doesn't mean that you have to suffer through yet another year of cold stares from the man himself and taunting from the rest of the family. Thanks to TiVo, you can still stay in Dad's good graces by taking him to one of 25 minor league baseball matches around the country tonight (click the Read link for a complete list), where select teams will each be giving away free Series 2 boxes to the first 1,000 male parents who walk through the gates. Well, by free, TiVo means that you have to sign up for a one-year service agreement at $155 -- what, did you think they were gonna give away the service too? -- but that's still an $84 savings over buying the same bundled package in the store. Even better, if your dad has decided to boycott the American Pastime due to Major League Baseball's hard line on placeshifting its games, you can still take advantage of this deal from the comfort of your home by signing up online.
Wii Sports expanding?
An innocuous line of text found on Nintendo's official E3 website has us wondering: might we see Wii Polo in the future? The bottom of the Wii Sports page has a final bullet point, "Additional games may be added to the Wii Sports group." Interesting.What other sports do you think would be a great fit for the Wii controller? No. Darts is not a sport.
Robot shortstop in development at Arizona State
Robots have taken yet another step toward their goal of dominating humans in just about every sport, this time setting their digital sites on America's favorite pastime, baseball. Thomas G. Sugar, a robotics engineer from Arizona State University, has been developing robots designed to play the field for more than six years, and his latest model is pretty impressive. The yet-unnamed (might we suggest eRod?) bot uses a motion-sensing camera to determine when a ball is put into play, and an on-board computer system that calculates trajectory. Using that information, the cyber-fielder hurries to gather the ball with a foam pad -- a glove is a feature to be added in the future. Its four-wheel drive transmission allows it to reach speeds of about 30 feet per second, which is almost as impressive as its estimated .750 fielding percentage. Sadly, it can't swing a bat, but luckily there are other robots for that.
Major League Baseball not a fan of placeshifting
After alienating fans with long strikes and doped-up players, you'd think that Major League Baseball would be wise to make moves towards recapturing its lost fan base; instead, recent comments by an executive from MLB's media division indicate that baseball may be intending to further sour relations with its customers by cracking down on the placeshifting of televised games. Speaking at this year's Digital Media Summit in LA, MLB Advanced Media executive VP George Kliavkoff went toe-to-toe with fellow panel member and Sling Media marketing VP Rich Buchanan, arguing that Slingbox customers are "violating the scope of their [cable and satellite] user agreements" when they rebroadcast content out of their home market. The whole issue seems rather silly to us, as baseball is essentially complaining that you're somehow screwing a local affiliate by watching an out-of-market game when you're traveling to its city, even though the sport as a whole is still benefiting from your viewership and the vast number of placeshifters probably ensure that no net eyeballs are actually lost. Note to MLB: Cricket is starting to look more and more attractive every day.
Improve your at bat with an iPod
The Colorado Rockies are using iPods (with video) to help their players improve their batting skills. It seems that one iPod can hold five seasons worth of at bats for a particular player, letting the ball player review his performance at his convenience. The Rockies also plan to equip their talent scouts with iPods containing videos of potential draft picks.[via iLounge]
Japanese sales charts, May 8-14: Baseball booms
Despite football fever hitting the UK hard, the only soccer title in last week's Japanese charts is lounging at number 4. Baseball's all the rage instead, with Jikkyou Powerful Major League taking the top spot. Tetris DS is still selling well, and the other titles in the top ten are all favourites making re-appearances in this slow week of sales.1. Jikkyou Powerful Major League [PS2]2. Tetris DS [DS]3. Brain Age 2 (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS) [DS]4. World Soccer Winning Eleven 10 [PS2]5. Brain Age: Train your Brain in Minutes a Day (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju no Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS Training) [DS]6. Animal Crossing: Wild World [DS]7. Eigo ga Nigate na Otona no DS Training: Eigo Duke [DS]8. Pokémon Ranger [DS]9. Dragon Quest: Shounen Yangus no Fushigi na Daibouken [PS2]10. Mother 3 [GBA]
HDTV Listings for April 7, 2006
What we're watching: NBA, NBA, NBA. The Western Conference stars continue to shine tonight with Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant all showing out in a doubleheader on ESPN. If you like your round balls slightly smaller size, theres always MLB action on INHD as the Rockies face the Padres at 10 p.m.Of course if the dramatics of basketball players arguing foul calls and major league managers arguing foul balls just aren't enough, please consider Discovery-HD's offering of Puccini's Tosca, "a fiery Roman melodrama of lust, betrayal and revenge". Sounds like the Lakers to me.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
Mobile ESPN gets MLB
Not that it should come as much of a surprise that Mobile ESPN would secure content for one of the two biggest sports in the US, but they announced clip highlights, scoreboards, Fantasy team management, and team alerts for the 2006 Major League Baseball season. You know what you gotta do to get access, friends; we're thinking of joining up just to see the spectacle that is the Mets take on yet another season... on our phone.[Via Mobile Tracker]
